Hollywood stars' homes up in flames

A burned out Porsche is seen on Corral Canyon Road in Malibu, California, after wildfires tore through the area on Saturday.

PHOTO: AP

Hollywood stars were among thousands of people forced to flee as wind-driven wildfires tore through the celebrity enclave of Malibu on Saturday, gutting nearly 50 multi-million dollar homes and threatening hundreds more, officials and reports said.

Fires erupted at around 3:30am, officials said, spreading rapidly through tinder-dry brush as winds packing gusts of up to 80kph fanned the inferno, the second to hit Malibu in a month.

By 5pm, around 1,880 hectares had been scorched and 51 buildings, including 49 homes, had been destroyed. A further 27 structures had been damaged, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said.

A drop in winds allowed firefighters to make inroads into the blaze, which was now 25 percent contained, officials said.